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EUROPE REACHES FOR RESET: Bratislava here we come! David Herszenhorn writes: “With leaders gripped by fear of losing elections, Donald Tusk’s hopes of a ‘pivotal’ summit risk being disappointed … The absence of the U.K. and its new prime minister, Theresa May, imposes limitations on the summit: nothing that is said or done will be legally binding, making it little more than a high-level public relations exercise.” http://politi.co/2cy7lEY

POLITICO’S REPORT CARD … It was back to basics and a step up from last year in the eyes of most around the POLITICO newsroom and beyond. Craig Winneker breaks it down: http://politi.co/2cET8q0

PLAYBOOK POLL ON WHO SHOULD DELIVER THE SOTEU: A total of 533 voted. 36 percent said Juncker should have the honors; 29 percent thought no speech was necessary; 22 percent wanted Donald Tusk; and 13 percent Martin Schulz. http://bit.ly/2cJBAu6

**A message from the EPP Group: We defend the European way of life and stand for security. We want an effective data exchange, a European entry-exit system and a competent European border guard that protects all Europeans. Furthermore, we stand for solidarity and for the fair burden-sharing of refugees. See how we’re #bringingresults.**

BREAKING DOWN SOTEU ANNOUNCEMENTS …

Commission chooses artists over tech in digital proposals, writes Chris Spillane, while the Economist says the plan helps “the old more than the new.”

External investment plan: The Commission launched a €3.35 billion fund dedicated to development in Africa and Middle East: http://bit.ly/2cEaW4U

€100 per village in the proposed EU Wi-Fi fund: It also turns out the funding the Commission has proposed won’t be available for at least a year and amounts to €100 per village. Peter Teffer on an “unrealistic promise” http://bit.ly/2cZlMAg. Jennifer Baker: http://bit.ly/2cask1E

Hidden wins for innovation team: An extra €400 million for Horizon 2020 research. Research will also be the big winner from the doubling of the EFSI investment plan, and researchers won a proposed copyright exception to help them dig into big data.

ITALIAN FM: EU NEEDS SCHENGEN FOR DEFENSE. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni puts pen to paper for POLITICO on what he thinks member countries should discuss in Bratislava. “Domestic and international security are different aspects of the same challenge … The EU must find effective answers … This will require an integrated approach that includes increased cooperation on intelligence, police and justice, preventive diplomacy, crisis management and — crucially — a leap forward in a common European defense strategy.” The full opinion piece here: http://politi.co/2cvsG05

EPP Manfred Weber: “For European youth, Europe means a better future”
S&D Gianni Pittella: Juncker’s speech had been “aware and responsible,” while Theresa May had kept the EU “in a stalemate.”
ECR Syed Kamall: “Dismissing people’s legitimate concerns will drive voters to radical political forces.”
ALDE Guy Verhofstadt: “Europe is the cure for the cancer of nationalism.”
GUE/NGL Gabriele Zimmer: “It is always the shoulders of citizens that carry the debts.”
Greens Rebecca Harms: New actions needed to give “new trust in a new common European path.”
EFDD Nigel Farage: “You are not going to stop Eastern European countries saying no to Merkel’s refugee policy.”
ENF Marine Le Pen: Juncker’s speech was “insipid and faulty … basically like a funeral for the EU.”Trade unions: “I am disappointed he did not announce any new action to tackle low wages, precarious work or the exploitation of migrant workers,” said Luca Visentini, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation.

WHEN HASHTAGS FIGHT BACK: A day after his State of the Union address, Jean-Claude Juncker is taking to YouTube for a live interview with Youtube stars Laetitia, Jonas and Lukasz (we’re too old to know who they are). Their hashtag #AskJuncker got bizarre, amusing, and occasionally sensible responses.

“What’s your thinking behind the #JunckerYouth?” asked Blackadder4Britain.”How long is it before an open bottle of Tabasco Sauce goes off?” asked Brian Carr. Go to YouTube at 11 a.m. Brussels time here: http://bit.ly/2cZeA6Q

LOST IN TRANSLATION — THE GAPS BETWEEN JUNCKER’S PREPARED AND DELIVERED TEXT…

The Apple case: “While his written speech, which was later released by the Commission, referenced Ireland’s tax practices and the Apple case, Mr Juncker excluded any mention of either in his address to the chamber,” writes Suzanne Lynch. http://bit.ly/2cKn1E1

The Stability and Growth pact: Juncker wanted to use the landmark speech to call for more “flexibility” when implementing the Stability and Growth pact, the famous eurozone budget, debt and inflation rules that countries love to break.

What Juncker said: “Debts in Europe continue to be too high … despite the fact that we’ve seen the deficit gap has dropped … I think we need to see intelligent flexibility so we don’t break or hinder growth.”

What Juncker was supposed to say: “We will continue to apply the pact not in a dogmatic manner, but with common sense and with the flexibility that we wisely built into the rules.”

What sources say: Changes to the pact ran into opposition from fiscal hawks such as Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Günther Oettinger, and Berlin. Pierre Moscovici and Marianne Thyssen were apparently in favor of changes. Others pointed out it would have been difficult for Juncker to open such a politically sensitive issue ahead of the Bratislava summit.

The upshot: The Commission has overlooked rule-bending before, it can do it again.

FIRST PERSON IN THE PLAYBOOK HOUSE: Having invited a diverse group for pre-speech dinner, I hauled in another bunch of Brussels souls Wednesday night for a post-speech SOTEU assessment. The biggest takeaway: most simply thought the SOTEU wasn’t worth the fuss. On its current trajectory some felt “the EU could end up as irrelevant as the U.N.”

Speech critique: The majority were relieved Juncker had more of a script this year, but two guests were left feeling flat: “It’s like when they put Donald Trump on a teleprompter.” “I liked when he spoke from the heart” and “I don’t need so many proposals, I need a little bit of ‘that’s my man!’” On how the speech is handled: “They never bring it down to one-to-one level. Where are the real-people examples sitting in the audience he can point to pitch his point, or prove that things changes?”

Consultation-gate: A point of contention was how the Commission consults, not only on SOTEU but generally. There’s been a lot of fuss in recent days — including strongly worded letters — from NGOs directed at the Commission, frustrated at not having been invited to the sort of pre-speech dialogue many Brussels think tanks attended. Playbook’s NGO guest wasn’t impressed though: “Civil society also needs to up its game. It’s divided and divisive, the echo room of echo rooms.” Another guest didn’t imagine being included would change much: “The Commission’s consultations are a sham time and time again. They just do box-checking exercises.”

Left-field idea: The group felt a relief that there is now a broader debate about the EU, and more freedom to explore what is not working. One guest said to nods that it was time to consider a referendum in every EU country about membership, to figure out who really wants to stay, and to push aside those who don’t.

Thumbs down to the public Wi-Fi idea: Playbook’s guests love Wi-Fi, they just thought a “proper roaming” policy would make it unnecessary, and the Commission was 10 years late to the party. “It’s the definition of backwards. Facebook is putting drones in the sky so the whole world can get internet and everyone’s going to have 5G. Do they think some 17-year old in Manchester cares about this?”

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BREXIT — ARTICLE 50 TASK FORCE SET UP: Michel Barnier, the chief Brexit negotiator, will work with Sabine Weyand, currently a Commission deputy director-general working on trade, to prepare for negotiations. http://bit.ly/2cDYOkr

BREXIT — UKIP PLANS INVASION OF THE CONTINENT: You can thank Arron Banks, the millionaire British insurance salesman and one of the biggest donors to the United Kingdom Independence Party, for the plan, writes Charlie Cooper.

“Arron Banks has a message to chill the blood of Eurocrats everywhere. ‘We might well go continental with the whole thing,’ [he said] … His vision for the future — one that he shares with Farage — is for the Leave.EU movement which he founded to become a beacon … Banks wants to see the populist, anti-elite, nativist message that secured Brexit go global.” http://politi.co/2cybQiP

UK — CORBYN’S TEAM ACCIDENTALLY SENDS OUT HATE LIST: The Guardian reports: “Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign team has issued a list singling out 14 Labour MPs, including deputy leader Tom Watson, whom it claims have abused the leader and his allies, triggering a new row in the party. Corbyn’s team said the list was sent out by mistake by a junior staff member.” More here: http://bit.ly/2cz0qbe

FRANCE — TRAIN TRAUMA SPARKS PANIC AT THE TOP: French politicians on the Left and Right are swapping accusations over the future of a plant run by train maker Alstom, reports Pierre Briançon. “Jobs aren’t even threatened in the short term — if ever. Alstom’s surprise decision to shutter its Belfort plant within two years came with an offer to redeploy workers to a site 125 miles to the north … Still … Hollande summoned Prime Minister Manuel Valls and the economy, transport and industry ministers to the Elysée … Closing the Belfort plant is ‘out of the question,’ said Valls.” So what’s going on? The Socialists want to avoid a repeat of 2002, when their candidate played down the state’s role in industrial disputes — and lost. http://politi.co/2cvzSJv

COMMISSION — VESTAGER TO GO AFTER FACEBOOK NEXT? Describing the social network as having “a very dominant position,” it sounds like competition queen Margrethe Vestager has Facebook in her sights. Aoife White and Francine Lacqua http://bloom.bg/2cEiCnv

PARLIAMENT …

DEATH ROLL FOR PRESIDENT BETWEEN EPP AND SOCIALISTS: Martin Schulz isn’t moving aside, and the biggest party in Parliament wants his job back. The EPP will select a candidate on December 12. Maïa de la Baume. http://politi.co/2cosweZ

EUROSTAT — ANNUAL REGIONAL STATISTICS PUBLISHED: Inner-city London has the highest population density in the EU, while the population of Severozapaden in Bulgaria is expected to halve by 2050. Read more here: http://bit.ly/2cE0yKa

THANKS to Laurens Cerulus, former European Council president of haiku-repute Herman van Rompuy.

**A message from the EPP Group: Growth is essential to the European way of life. Only with good export opportunities will we conquer youth unemployment, especially in Southern Europe. Because trade means jobs: for every €1 billion we get in exports, 14,000 extra jobs are created across the EU. And more than 30 million jobs, 1 in 7 of all jobs in the EU, now depend on exports to the rest of the world. As the largest economy in the world, Europe has the weight to shape an open global trading system based on fair rules. We want improved access to markets while remaining vigilant about safeguarding our high standards. We therefore wholeheartedly say Yes to fair trade agreements such as CETA, and continuation of TTIP negotiations. Read more on our trade priorities here. #bringingresults**